Publication: N19 / Review Period: April 1-30, 2024

The review is being prepared within the framework of the Roadmap to the Kremlin's Policy in Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali Region project. The purpose of the review is to provide readers with information about the main events and trends in the occupied regions of Georgia. The review is a monthly publication and will be useful for decision-makers, public employees, media representatives and other people interested in the developments that take place in the occupied regions of Georgia.

Abkhazia

New Owner of a Private Television: Will This Lead to an Editorial Policy Change?

On April 11, the owner of the opposition Abaza-TV (Абаза-ТВ) was changed. The television station was founded in 2007 by the former de facto Prime Minister, Beslan Butba. Currently, Butba who has legal and financial problems in Russia lives in Switzerland. The television station received income from advertising, subsidies from the “budget” and grants allocated by international organizations. This year, “non-state” media were denied funding, and international organizations were prohibited from financing projects of a political nature. Supposedly, the mentioned problems caused the change of the owner. Zakhar Agrba, a 31-year-old businessman, is the new owner. Agrba runs a construction business in Moscow. He is the Candidate of Economic Sciences and has been working in various companies in Moscow for years.

Zakhar Agrba

They assume in Abkhazia that the changes are in the interests of the de facto government since Agrba is close to the family of the de facto president, Aslan Bzhania. They suspect that the owner's change may affect the television's editorial policy in favor of the de facto government. Such news is especially noteworthy given the illegitimate presidential elections scheduled for 2025. Bzhania hopes that controlling the media will help him maintain his power and get elected for a second term.

How is the Program on the Formation of a Single Socio-Economic Space being Implemented?

As the de facto Prime Minister, Alexander Ankvab, announced, a total of 27 out of 44 measures planned under the program of the formation of a single socio-economic space have been implemented in 2021-2023. The program was signed between Russia and occupied Abkhazia in 2020. Some program requirements could not be completed as scheduled. One is the adoption of the law on “foreign agents” which has not been implemented so far. Moscow periodically criticizes Sokhumi due to the slow pace of the program implementation.

Bzhania's Interview and Khajimba's Response

On April 3, Bzhania gave an interview to the Russian media –  Аргументы и Факты. The former de facto president Raul Khajimba, responded to the interview. After leaving office early in 2020, Khajimba rarely makes comments or appears in public. He criticized Bzhania for the apartments idea saying that building apartments and selling them to foreigners will create an imbalance not only in demographics, but also in economic and social spheres. The issue of apartments is one of the most acute one in Abkhazia, which has many opponents who fear that the mass purchase of apartments by foreign citizens, mainly Russians, will weaken the influence of ethnic Abkhazians in Abkhazia.

Khajimba criticized Bzhania for trying to pass the “law on foreign agents.” For him, it is unacceptable to call those people “agents” who were in and fought with the national liberation movement. A similar opinion is widely spread among “law” opponents. 

Tskhinvali Region

Alan Gagloyev Meets with the Government Official 

On April 2, the de facto President, Alan Gagloyev, met with the Deputy Head of the Russian Presidential Administration, Dmitry Kozak. Kozak supervises the occupied regions in the Presidential Administration; important issues are agreed with him. The visit is important in the context of the illegitimate parliamentary elections scheduled for June, which Gagloyev wants to win. Without a convincing victory, his political authority in the eyes of Kozak and other Russian government officials will weaken, which will become an obstacle to his political future and the prospect of being elected to a second “presidential” term.

Judgment of the European Court against "Borderization”

On April 9, the European Court of Human Rights found human rights violations in the 2018 lawsuit against “borderization” by Russia. The court unanimously determined in the case "Georgia v. Russia" that during the process of “borderization,” that has been ongoing since 2009, violations of the right to life, the right to prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment, the right to freedom, the right to respect for private and family life, the right to property protection, education, and free movement rights. The de facto Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the occupied Tskhinvali region commented on this issue accusing the court of double standards. According to the de facto Ministry, international law has become an object of political manipulation which is being done openly. Such an interpretation of events, which does not correspond to reality, cannot contribute to the efforts aimed at achieving sustainable peace in the region and trust in international courts. On August 22, 2018, the Georgian authorities filed a lawsuit with the European Court.

Dismissal of the De Facto Minister of Defense

On April 17, Gagloyev released the de facto Defense Minister Marat Pavlov from the post. Inal Sabanov, the de facto Deputy Minister, was temporarily assigned to fulfill the minister’s duties. In Tskhinvali, his dismissal is connected with the pre-election process. According to local estimates, Pavlov was appointed by Moscow in 2022 and turned out to be the most efficient “minister” since 2008. It seems that the fact has become an irritating factor for Gagloyev whose displeasure probably arose from the study of the violations committed by Pavlov in the de facto Ministry in the previous years, which was also related to the activities of Gagloyev's political allies. The reason for Pavlov's resignation was not voiced.

Marat Pavlov

Russian Investors in Tskhinvali

On April 25-26, a Russian investor Albert Jusoev, who is the President of the Stroyprogress ("Стройпргогресс") group, visited the Tskhinvali region. Yury Morozov, the Deputy to Jusoev and the former de facto Prime Minister of the region (2005-2008), was among the guests. Jusoev is originally from the Tskhinvali region and has not been in the region for 16 years. The company combines mining, oil extraction, banking, industry, and logistics. The group includes 48 companies operating in 20 regions of Russia and three states.

Jusoev stated his business interests in several directions:

• Jusoev is planning to sign an agreement on the exploration of oil reserves in the Tskhinvali region. According to him, in 1954-1957, oil production was underway in the village of Gromi, which soon ceased. If oil is discovered, the region will have its own gasoline, fuel oil, and diesel.
• Kvaisa has a potential for agricultural development with its copper and zinc reserves.
• Cooperation in the tourism and banking sector is also promising.
• It is planned to assemble three types of Chinese cars. For this purpose, a Chinese delegation will visit Tskhinvali in May.

On April 26, Russian investors and the de facto government signed several agreements on socio-economic cooperation. An investment agreement was also signed with the JSC Rusneftegaz, a geological exploration company operating in the Far East region of Russia. As part of the investment agreements, a hotel will be built in Kvaisa, and oil field exploration will be carried out.

Signing of the Investment Agreement

During the visit, Jusoev made loud statements. Gagloyev has previously mentioned the prospects of extracting minerals, but this was the first time when a Russian investor openly spoke about it. At this stage, it is difficult to assess how profitable projects can be for Russian investors from an economic point of view. However, the most important thing is that Gagloyev will use the visit of Russian investors and their promises for his political team's pre-election campaign for the June 9 illegitimate parliamentary elections.

Chinese Investors in Tskhinvali

Wu Yinghui, a representative of the Chinese investment company Sabrina, was in the occupied Tskhinvali region. “The business of South Ossetia and China has a future, wish us fruitful cooperation and friendship,” he said. As part of their first visit to Tskhinvali, the Chinese guests visited deposits in Kvaisa. China officially renounces relations with the occupied regions, although there are some activities at the level of private individuals and companies. In March, Ge Zhili, the Chairman of the board of the Beijing Information and Consulting Company Limited Liability “Eurasia,”visited Abkhazia and met with the de facto Minister of Foreign Affairs, Inal Ardzinba. According to various reports, Zhili holds the status of “Honorary Consul of Abkhazia” in China, and his name has been repeatedly associated with Abkhazia in the past.

Investors from China

The 60th Meeting in Geneva

On April 4-5, the 60th round of the Geneva International Discussions (GID) was held. It was the first meeting this year. According to the press communique of the Co-Chairs of the GID, the participants reviewed the security situation on the ground and assessed it as “relatively stable.” There were extensive and substantive exchanges of views on ways to further address core issues on the GID agenda, including non-use of force and international security arrangements.

At the meeting, the Abkhaz side traditionally raised the issue of signing a legally binding agreement on the non-use of force. As they report, “the destructive position of the Georgian participants” does not allow them to begin the full-pledged work on such a document. The Abkhaz side also raised the issue of the so-called border delimitation/demarcation, as well as the restoration of meetings in Gali in the frame of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism. Meetings in Gali have not been held since 2018, after the murder of Giga Otskhozoria. The Abkhaz side, supported by Russia, has recently been actively demanding the resumption of meetings in Gali. The official position of Tbilisi on the issue is not yet known.

The Abkhaz Delegation in Geneva

The Ossetian side, in turn, called on the Georgian side to start the work on the so-called border delimitation/demarcation. Once again, “the most serious attention was paid to Georgia's gross violations of the rights of Ossetians - natives of Truso Valley, the Kazbegi region, whom the Georgian authorities have been denying access to their ancestral settlements for several years.” Calls for the return of the mentioned territories are periodically heard in the Ossetian media. Through the mediation of Moscow and the permission of Tbilisi, there were cases when ethnic Ossetians visited the mentioned places. The Ossetian side also demanded the return of a unique icon - the Okon triptych. Currently, the icon is kept at the National Museum in Tbilisi. Tskhinvali periodically voices the issue.

It is also worth noting that the representatives of the occupied regions expressed concern over NATO's growing presence on the territory of Georgia.

The previous, 59th meeting was held on December 5-6, 2023. As planned, the next 61st meeting will be held on June 25-26, 2024.

Moscow's Request: A New Venue for the Geneva International Discussions 

On April 14, a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Maria Zakharova, stated that Switzerland has lost the status of a neutral country since it joined the EU's anti-Russian actions and “expresses full solidarity with the Kyiv regime.” Zakharova explains that the abovementioned raised the need to transfer the negotiations to another country. As she said, several states agreed on the role of a mediator and several of them have already given consent to allocate territory for negotiations. Moscow is trying to reach a consensus on moving the Negotiation Rounds from Geneva with the support of Abkhaz and Ossetian allies. Sokhumi and Tskhinvali support Moscow and cite the tightening of visa policy as one of the reasons, which prevents them from moving freely to Schengen countries/Switzerland. Belarus and Serbia are named as alternative venues. Tbilisi's consent is also required to change the place.